A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 22

She should be questioning her, interrogating her, and keeping her entirely restricted within the palm of her hand.

She should command her to answer the doubts that had plagued her for so long, instruct her to offer an oath of submission, and then exchange it for a lease on life.

Bai Shuzhou had thought about many things along the way. Only by maintaining detachment could she make the correct decision; in this world filled with lies, she had already seen too much betrayal and exploitation.

Yet at this very moment, cradling a heavily scarred Zhu Yu in her arms, she simply used the exact same words from before to grant her another chance, waiting for a reason.

Now, is there anything you want to say to me?

Zhu Yu gripped Bai Shuzhou’s hand tightly, struggling to organize her chaotic thoughts. The effects of the reagent made her shake uncontrollably as she spilled everything about the Phoenix like beans from a pod.

The Royal Academy of Sciences had been conducting human experiments all along, even though it was strictly forbidden. As a fellow ability user, Zhu Yu felt a natural terror and fury toward this.

The surgical scars on Bai Shuzhou’s body were remarkably similar to those on the Phoenix.

“Are you an ability user too?” Zhu Yu asked very softly, terrified of being overheard by others, yet seemingly seeking a small shared secret.

What about you? Were you once treated that way too?

Her tail flicked heavily. This was not the answer she wanted to hear; moreover, Zhu Yu was not yet qualified to question her.

A brief silence ensued. Bai Shuzhou waited for her to continue, but Zhu Yu just stared at her without blinking, her vision dampened by physiological tears, separated by a layer of hazy mist.

Bai Shuzhou asked coldly: “What else?”

Zhu Yu noticed her slightly lowered gaze, froze for a moment, and immediately lifted her hand to thrust the ring in her face, saying dully: “I wanted to return the ring to you before, but it won’t come off. I’m sorry.”

Just moments ago, she had proudly raised the ring under the gaze of thousands, hoisting the dignity and glory of the Empire along with it. Yet now, she cautiously squeezed out a smile.

Bai Shuzhou frowned. Zhu Yu’s eagerness to return it looked like she wanted to rid herself of something. Saying “I’m sorry” too many times drew a stark boundary between them, exuding a restrained, rigid distance.

Not a single sentence was pleasant to hear.

Did she really have to tie her up just to get her to speak properly?

Bai Shuzhou had to make things explicit. She tapped the corner of the girl’s lip, forcing her to lift her head and look her in the eye.

“What about you? What exactly are you thinking?”

Her tone was very faint, showing no major emotional fluctuation, yet the gentle fragrance of roses brushed against her face with each breath, soft and tender.

Those touched-up wounds—and the faint scent of blood her nose caught during this close embrace—made the long-endured pain feel increasingly vivid now that it was seen. What seeped out was no longer blood, but tears.

Zhu Yu blinked, catching a trembling ripple from the woman’s slightly upturned intonation. After chewing on it repeatedly, it turned into a hint of sweetness. That drifting, uncertain heart could finally settle down carefully at this moment.

Buried deep into Bai Shuzhou’s warm embrace.

“Sister, I missed you so much.”

Not filing a complaint, not venting grievances—just I missed you so much.

“I knew you wouldn’t abandon me!”

Her tone was utterly certain, yet the hand gripping the sleeve tightly still trembled from straining too hard.

The exhaled heat and scorching tears squeezed from her chest, incredibly damp.

The affairs of the Imperial Star had been delegated to Feng Jiyan, leaving Bai Shuzhou entirely unaware of that blackmail letter. She could not comprehend why such a change had occurred in Zhu Yu.

They had barely been apart for half a day. Clearly, it was you who chose to stay behind; clearly, you were the one colluding with the Federation…

With a soft sigh, Bai Shuzhou asked in a raspy voice: “They were beating you; didn’t you know how to dodge?”

She usually looked so well-behaved and knew how to preserve herself. She did not want her to shine by burning herself out; it was far too foolish.

Bai Shuzhou placed a single finger over her burning gland, attempting to guide the chaotic spiritual power back on track. But the moment those ice-cold fingertips made contact, the flush on Zhu Yu’s face doubled instead, bleeding outward until it reached the very tips of her ears as she shrank back timidly.

She flustered, not daring to look at her, terrified that her offensive thoughts would be detected.

This gentle touch caused the already tilting edifice to collapse instantly. That thread of rose fragrance bored through her skin and into her gland, her heart hammering violently against her chest as if something were trying to tear free from its shackles.

Someone approached. The Snow Leopard Knight Regiment had arrived, coordinating with Iselia to quickly bring the auction venue under control, attempting to separate the two.

The Emperor had issued two directives: first, for the Snow Leopard Knight Regiment to retrieve Bai Shuzhou; second, for Iselia to investigate the beginning and end of that day’s disappearance.

“Your Highness, the medical team is in position. We will take good care of her,” the Snow Leopard Knight Commander bowed, his respectful words carrying a hint of enforcement. “His Majesty is still waiting for you.”

Allowing Bai Shuzhou to attend this auction was already outside the plan.

The girl, her mind chaotic, frantically grabbed Bai Shuzhou’s fingertips, struggling to enunciate each word clearly: “I am Zhu Yu. Zhu as in blessings, Yu as in surplus year after year.”

“This name comes from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. It’s the name of a medicinal herb; if you eat it, you won’t go hungry.”

This sudden self-introduction caused Bai Shuzhou’s brow to twitch violently. She sealed her lips with a finger. “Be quiet. Talk after you’re sober.”

Since she wouldn’t let go, the Knight Commander signaled the medical team to step forward, clearing the immediate vicinity. They opened a silver suitcase, and various reagents gave off a cold, frosty vapor.

The corners of Bai Shuzhou’s eyes flushed a faint red, clearly affected by Zhu Yu’s pheromones. The rose fragrance lingered faintly among her hair, and her icy features softened slightly as she calmly continued to direct.

How to handle the victims and captives, public opinion, and diplomatic affairs—every arrangement was precise and sharp.

Iselia watched with a surging heart, her tail perking high. Although she had just been ambushed and bound by vines earlier, she didn’t care at all. The scene of the silver dragon spreading its wings was reflected in her golden eyes, instead drawing out her innate admiration for the strong.

Yes, she completely understood now!

This was Her Highness the Princess defending the dignity of an Imperial soldier, even if the other party was the ex-wife who had once persecuted her!

What a grand spirit! What beautiful and powerful wings!

This was the Bai Shuzhou of her memory: proud, intelligent, where even the greatest honor merited nothing more than a shallow arc at the corner of her lips.

But Bai Shuzhou’s cool voice was raspy, her silver hair scattered over the shoulders of the girl in her arms. She paused subtly as her final sentence fell, swallowing a short, sharp breath.

Zhu Yu remained buried in her embrace, gripping the edge of her clothes tightly. This pitiful yet arrogant posture fell into Iselia’s eyes, turning into a blatant provocation and humiliation.

Iselia nearly ground her teeth to pieces.

But Bai Shuzhou suddenly lifted her eyes and hooked her finger at her.

Her golden eyes lit up, and Iselia happily hurried forward. The Knight Commander tried to remind her to maintain a social distance from the Princess, but Iselia shoved her aside directly.

Zhu Yu was already lying in someone’s arms; why did she still need to mind her manners? She hadn’t seen the Knight Commander dare to step forward and forcibly drag the person out, either.

“Iselia, go catch that fish that slipped through the net. This auction venue has other passages,” Bai Shuzhou gently patted Zhu Yu’s trembling back, her eyes lifting toward the highest box, her voice chillingly cold.

“But His Majesty ordered me to bring Zhu Yu back. I cannot leave her with you like this.” Iselia scratched her head in distress; this was a legitimate justification.

“You are the only one who can accomplish this.” Bai Shuzhou stared at her fixedly. “I want her alive.”

As expected, she was the person Bai Shuzhou trusted most! The big tiger proudly held her head high and puffed her chest out, immediately responding: “As you command!”

Bai Shuzhou: “Furthermore, I will interrogate Zhu Yu personally. Clear out a confinement room.”

Iselia, who had just been bursting with complacency, froze on the spot, and the Knight Commander’s expression instantly turned very ugly. “Your Highness, Zhu Yu’s suspicion has not been cleared yet. This is too dangerous!”

An icy vertical pupil darted a quiet glance at her.

The Knight Commander grit her teeth, making a reluctant concession. “At least allow us to inject her with a suppressant to stabilize the situation.”

This was not a negotiation. The woman raised her hand, and attendants immediately stepped forward to pin Zhu Yu down, bringing out a suppressant specifically for Alphas.

But the girl, who had been calming down within Bai Shuzhou’s embrace, struggled violently upon seeing the silver needle, curling up in terror and shielding the back of her neck.

Her vision gradually dissolved, leaving only a blur of light spots. Her body instinctively shrank and dodged from non-existent attacks.

During a rut, all senses and affections are infinitely magnified.

Fractus coursed backward through her bloodstream, slicing her chaotic thoughts into fragments.

An ice-cold, pure white room, suffocatingly empty; an endless abyss of darkness, the sensation of weightlessness dragging her into an eternal descent… The scarlet [REJECTED] on the large screen, the undisguised coldness and disgust in those pale blue eyes before they vanished from sight.

“Don’t go…” A broken whimper caught in her throat, her voice so weak she couldn’t even hear it herself.

Don’t go, don’t go, please…

Don’t hate me, don’t leave me alone, please!

The out-of-control spiritual power rammed wildly through her narrow meridians, nearly tearing her flesh apart.

Cold sweat drenched her thin clothes, and physiological tears flowed silently down her cheeks.

Zhu Yu desperately wanted to wail and beg, but the world felt separated from her by a thin barrier; even if she screamed with all her might, no one could hear her.

Strangers, familiar faces—all the faceless people were drifting further away, eventually turning into a tiny black dot.

She bit down hard on her wrist, her nails sinking deep into the flesh, attempting to use this negligible pain to drag herself back from the hollow nightmare.

Yet her fingertips pierced futilely through her other arm, through her burning cheeks, unable to even touch that heart inside her chest—beating frantically, yet seemingly about to stop at any moment.

She could no longer feel her own existence.

Falling ten thousand meters in an instant, the infinite universe plunged into a sudden roar of silence.

Zhu Yu, Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu!

An icy yet exceptionally powerful hand cut through the thick darkness, precisely and lines-of-objectionably gripping her just as she was about to dissipate.

Zhu Yu stiffened, her entire body trembling slightly.

A tiny vermilion cinnabar mole, bright red like blood, suddenly lit up in her blurred vision—shuck! It ignited a golden flame, illuminating the darkness and snapping her back to reality.

Inside the confinement room of the Warship Cangyao.

The thickened silence layer isolated this place into an absolutely private space.

Bai Shuzhou half-knelt before the curled-up girl, her icy fingertips bearing an irresistible force as they cradled that tear-streaked face.

Without any hesitation, she lowered her head and gently pressed her lips against those that were trembling slightly from pain, parched and seeping blood.

“Mmh…!”

The first thing she tasted was a heavy metallic tang, mixed with bitter tears. Zhu Yu’s hands, tightly bound behind her back by restraints, snapped in a sudden struggle, a whimper like a young beast escaping from the depths of her throat.

She arched her vulnerable neck, blue veins rising slightly like winding mountain ranges of pain.

Her burning gland was red and swollen, gently covered by two slender knuckles. Her jade-like, delicate, and cool finger pads carried a strange force—a fusion of soothing and suppression—as they kneaded gently.

Bai Shuzhou’s silver hair, which had been tied up high, was now entirely undone, cascading down like flowing moonlight, draping strand by strand over Zhu Yu’s shoulders, tangling ambiguously with her sluggish breathing.

The girl’s most primitive instinct was a plunder akin to a wild beast.

The vines tightly bound Zhu Yu’s arms and lower abdomen; the coarse texture spurred her to tremble even harder as she bit down heavily.

Sharp canine teeth instantly pierced the soft, cold lips, and droplets of blood carrying a rich rose fragrance stained the tip of her tongue.

“Ngh…” Bai Shuzhou’s body stiffened imperceptibly, a suppressed, almost broken groan of pain escaping from her tightly pressed teeth.

Her elegant brows knitted tightly from the pain, yet deeper within those pale blue eyes, a more complex affection surged.

It was endurance, or perhaps an indulgence she herself had failed to detect.

“Zhu Yu…” Her cool voice remained steady, but carried a hint of a raspy undertone after being bitten, like an undercurrent beneath the ice, slowly penetrating the girl’s chaotic consciousness. “Relax.”

The rose aura carrying a soothing power no longer enveloped her gently like a tide, but acted like resilient vines, wrapping around layer by layer with an indisputable force.

Tightly binding, wrapping, and drawing this trembling, violent frame into a domain of absolute control.

“Don’t resist; accept my spiritual power.” Warm lips pressed against the side of her ear, opening and closing gently as they uttered a command.

“Good girl—”

Under the continuous and powerful kneading of the hands covering her gland, and the domineering yet gentle reassurance between her teeth, Zhu Yu’s stiff body finally began to relax clumsily.

A warm, peaceful, and clear current—like the purest moonlight—flowed out from the skin where they touched.

Bai Shuzhou’s will plunged into the depths of Zhu Yu’s chaotic spiritual sea just like that, forceful yet tender.

The pathways that had tangled into a dead knot and were on the verge of snapping were patiently and irresistibly unraveled, smoothed out, and combed back into place by the woman.

The intense pain receded like a tide, replaced by a soothing, relaxed comfort that came from a sudden release after extreme exhaustion.

Zhu Yu felt as if she had fallen from purgatory into warm spring water in an instant. Her scorching body temperature had not dropped yet, but her body instinctively pressed closer to the only source of coolness before her, like a nestling.

Her forehead rested against Bai Shuzhou’s collarbone, her nose greedily inhaling that cold yet rich rose fragrance, a small, satisfied yet aggrieved whimper escaping her throat.

“Sister…” An unconscious murmur, carrying absolute dependence and longing.

Very obedient. A hint of satisfaction surfaced among Bai Shuzhou’s weary features, and she pinched her cheek.

This action, however, seemed to trigger some mechanism. Zhu Yu lifted her dark, wet eyes, calling out softly once more, “Sister.”

Gently, like a tender sprout breaking through the soil.

Just as a downpour was about to arrive, a warm woody scent filled the air, piercing through the light, sweeping wind. Carrying a pure, dominant force, it erupted thunderously from deep within the girl’s body without warning.

This was Zhu Yu’s true pheromone.

Bai Shuzhou froze slightly. She clearly perceived that a dangerous change was occurring within Zhu Yu, and instinctively wanted to pull away.

—Too late.

The initially submissive and obedient pale-gold spiritual power actively tangled onto the vines. In a flash, the world inverted at this moment.

Zhu Yu had freed herself from the handcuffs at some unknown point; she had willingly kept her hands behind her back until this very second.

“Ngh!” A short gasp of surprise escaped Bai Shuzhou’s lips. She, who had been controlling everything just a moment ago, was suppressed completely caught off guard. The cold cabin wall pressed against her spine, her silver hair scattering in disarray.

Zhu Yu was sheltering the back of her head with one hand, which also acted as a form of restriction.

…Had she been waiting for this moment all along?

“Zhu Yu,” the woman rebuked coldly, “you are not allowed to mark…!”

Roses were growing wildly, deep green vines already wrapping around her neck, sharp thorns pressing between the Alpha’s glands. If she dared to cross the line, she would pierce through without mercy, turning her spiritual power into a tangled mess.

An unprecedented tremor transmitted from the tip of her heart; the feeling of losing control felt utterly terrible.

Bai Shuzhou bit her lip, clearly feeling her own pheromones being coaxed out by the warm woody scent, trembling as droplets surfaced.

Zhu Yu hid too many secrets; the concentration of her pheromones was still climbing continuously, blending with the rose aura and growing wildly without restraint.

It was as if their pheromones were born to entwine and coexist.

Bai Shuzhou grit her teeth, using the gap as the girl lowered her head to wrap one arm around her neck.

Nails sinking into skin, she pinched her gland, like gripping reins or a collar.

An out-of-control Alpha was highly dangerous; Bai Shuzhou loathed this sense of powerlessness brought about by such a massive discrepancy in physical capability.

Zhu Yu slowly lowered her head, her warm breath carrying a fresh woody scent as it brushed carefully yet with immense attachment over Bai Shuzhou’s sensitive ear.

She clearly possessed overwhelming power, clearly could have easily and more deeply plundered… yet in the final inch of distance, she forcefully put the brakes on all her desires.

She merely rested her forehead gently against hers.

In that instant, it was as if the stars of the entire universe stopped flickering, holding their breath.

The girl’s breathing was scorching and hurried, carrying the unique magnetism and slight raspy quality of a rut. “Sister…”

“I like you so much,” she held out the most burning secret from the bottom of her heart, word by clumsy word. “Do you like me?”

A brief pause, like a century of long torment.

“Can you… like me?”

The woman’s knuckles gripping Zhu Yu’s gland turned a faint green-white from being overly tense, yet they could no longer exert a single shred of force.

Beneath the Arlanka silk, a wet trace gradually showed through, soaking outward into a small dark patch.